Imperial Carriage of Maximilian
Attributed to Cesare Sala, Milan · About 1864
Nothing in the castle says empire quite like this coach. Built in Milan, gilded from wheels to roof and topped with a crown, it carried Maximilian and Carlota through the streets of Mexico City in the brief years between 1864 and 1867. The panels are painted with the imperial arms, the interior is lined with crimson silk, and the lamps and door handles are worked in gilt bronze. Even the leather springs are decorated. It was designed to be seen, a rolling advertisement for a monarchy that most Mexicans never asked for.
Walk around it slowly. The body is a state coach of the kind used by European courts in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with a boxed cabin hung on long curved supports and a raised seat in front for the driver and footmen. Look at the quality of the carved foliage and cherubs on the corners, and at the glass panels, which were a luxury in themselves. The carriage was pulled by six or eight horses, and a whole liveried household went with it. Its sheer weight explains why it moved at walking pace on ceremonial occasions.
Maximilian's empire lasted only three years. Abandoned by the French troops that had put him on the throne and defeated by the republican forces of Benito Juárez, he was executed at Querétaro in June 1867. The coach stayed behind in Mexico as part of the national patrimony and is today one of the most photographed objects in the museum. A few steps away sits its opposite number, the plain black carriage of Juárez himself, and the contrast between the two says more about that war than any text panel.
Did You Know? Carlota rode in this coach to Veracruz in 1866 on her way to plead for help in Europe; she never returned to Mexico and lived until 1927.
Unlock the Full Guide
Read every room and listen to every work in all museums with premium.